Liminal

 Liminal rivers are more of a philosophical concept than a concrete idea, but needs to be explained because "on the threshold" rivers are a huge part of how the nature in Corrales thrives. Our river water level controls the water table level. The two water sources recharge at different rates, but levels above ground and below ground change constantly.

Wood ducks thrive in swampy, poorly drained locations because they can adapt to live on water, in reeds, on the mud, or even in the trees. Birds change shapes and patterns and behaviors depending on circumstances. This makes it hard to identify many of them.

One of the common summer bird visitors shows this very well. This is a female tanager, calling to locate other territories.

This is the male tanager that was answering her. The same species of bird but very different appearance. This beautiful bird appeal to human senses of aesthetic, but we are definitely not its target audience.

 

 This concept of appearance being deceiving works in reverse, too. These flowers belong to a chokecherry tree, and are white, with yellow centers.

This is a wild primrose species and looks very similar to the chokecherry because both plants are advertising for the same insects (usually moths) to pollinate the next generation of plants. Similar design, but completely unrelated plants.

 

 Pollinators come in many different sizes and shapes. Some are large and showy, like this black swallowtail. Unfortunately this one died by a collision with one of the many cars going too fast on our country roads.

This roadside skipper is much smaller and better camouflaged. They tend to pollinate the smallest flowers such as dandelions and mustard weeds. They tolerate other forms of human enroachment better, such as dust thrown up by vehicles, and drier, hotter conditions.

Beetles, like this wood boring species have babies that look nothing like the parents and live a totally different lifestyles. Some beetles are pollinators, but beetles account for 1/4 of all known animal species on the planet, so there is a lot of variety (many of the other species on the planet are actually wasps)

The baby birds are beginning to fledge and now look a lot more like their parents. Great horned owls are one of the first to build nests in the year and are usually first to fledge. This one, however, tried to fly before it was able to and fell out of the nest. It had to climb back up the tree, making a lot of noise as it flapped for balance. Here, it is taking a short rest, bracing on it's powerful legs. It made it back safely. This liminal adult still has nine months before it can fend for itself alone.

The parents stay close and keep watch, they are devoted. Even so, the mortality of the young owls is around 75%.

Hummingbirds also suffer losses, but they can raise multiple broods a year. They are prominent in the bosque right now, feeding on tiny marsh insects and guarding territory while they figure out their pecking order.

Right now, the water table is only a few inches below the surface of the bosque. So, where the trail has been worn down by feet, tires and hooves, the water has begun to either seep up from below, or infill over the river banks. This drastically changes the environment for both plants and animals. This affects not only this year, but the effects echo down many years into the future in a cascading effect of related events.

Egrets are stopping in the bosque more than normal as a result of this extra surface water so early in the season. They like to find mosquito fish trapped in small backwaters off the main channels. The increased salination of the soil also benefits their close cousins, the cattle egrets, who prefer wet grassy fields full of large grasshoppers and worms.

The many amphibians rely on small hidden pools and the common wood house toads have already begun to call at night. Overall, however there is a much reduced diversity of frogs and related animals as humans reduce their living space and degrade ecological conditions.

Coyotes are often seen at this time of year. The rising water is a mixed bag for them because even thought here is plenty of prey items, the water ruins their changes of sneaking up on water creatures such as muskrats and ducks. The high flowing river also limits their mobility because they can't cross to the relative safety of the Sandia Pueblo and are stuck in the dangerous urban interface near to humans.

The interior drain lowers the water table near to it, but this also means the water exists right below the surface of the ground. This can be proven with a simple hole dug at the bottom at any point along the ditch. Any entire ecosystem lives in this liminal water. Plants, and the animals that rely on those plants for both water and shelter can be found, if one is willing to get into the muck and look (its actually fun to do, I promise). This also means the water table would rise if the base were to ever be filled in...

The human changes made to nature in Corrales are bad news to many animals, but not all. The native range of the paper wasps has expanded as they take advantage of the increased protection from the weather that human houses provide. Other creatures that have spread along with human development include roaches, ants, mosquitoes and mice. They all have adapted to damp, underground pipes and nocturnal living.

More desirable animals are also attracted to humans. One example are these ibis. Intermittent, open flooded fields are very much like their preferred habitat of infilled wetland meadows. These birds have to keep moving because the climate is not always favorable for their shelter and breeding needs so they are only a short term tenant.

Wetlands often create mosquitos. In spite of everything humans do (maybe because), mosquitos continue to thrive and spread. Ironically, the mosquito only needs our blood to produce egg cases and are vegan the rest of their lives. The problems occur because several mosquito parasites have adapted to using humans to continue their own life cycles. A great many other animals and ecosystems have suffered as human use clumsy attempts to try to control this one specific pest. DDT, kerosene, and swamp drainage have all been used to devastating effect in the war against a single tiny insect. The bystander casualties have been enormous.

There are many animals that rely on mosquitos. The say's phoebe eats many of these insects, one at a time from an ambush perch.

Some of the best mosquito hunters are the dragonfly, both the adult fliers and the aquatic larva feed on that species. As summer continues, they will proliferate around any source of open water, which they use to both feed and raise their young. This is a meadowhawk, one of the most prolific and robust dragonflies.

This bull snake is hunting for young mice along the ditch banks but will eventually be forced away by the number of interruptions caused by people with animals. When they leave, the mice and lizards will proliferate, attracting coyotes and garter snakes. each niche that opens will be filled by another species in the endless cycle of the bosque. The changes blend into each other in overlapping effects and life continues to adapt into different forms to effects both obvious and those more hidden under our very feet or at the edge of our consciousness.